HAJEE'S PANTHER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

HAJEE'S PANTHER.

The rice fields in their brilliant green irtretched all about and beyond the little Indian village, and here and there, emerging from this emerald sea, were four stakes on the top of which a roof of drfed palms was laid criss-cross, to make a platform on to which a man could climb.

On one of these, one evening when the sun was making its way low beneath the palms, little Hajee sat. He had been told to stay there for the purpose of keeping away birds that would come to peck at the growing rice. At any sign of an intruder. Hajee would clap his brown hands together and make terrifying noises which would send them wheeling up into the skies again away from this monster, who in reality was only a tiny boy.

Not far away Hajee could see the brown thatched roofs of the village in which he lived, with its halo of blue smoke rising from the thatch of the roofs through which it oozed.

Soon the sun would be vanishing; the birds would leave their food hunting and make for their nests, and Hajee would not be needed on his raised platforms—which was a good thing, because when the darkness came the mosquitos would be there too to torment. But before this happened Hajee knew that his mother would leave her cooking, and w«ould come to the door of their hut and "walk swiftly down the village street to the edge of the field to call across to him to return.

Hajee, beginning to feel tired of his position, watched the sun with a special interest as it dipped lower and lower, as, though it too were tired and weighed down by fatigue.

Across the yellow sky, feathered by mauve clouds, some flying foxes passed high over Hajee's head, their clumsy bat. wings moving like sails, in a slow wind;' and not far off in the creeks and ewamps frogs woke and filled the evening air with their Voices. And lower and lower the sun went down, and lower still; but Hajee's mother did not come.

For something unusual had happened that evening to Hajee's another. She had been stung by a strange little beetle which had caused a good deal of pain in her foot. She had left her cooking to hobble. through the coolie lines to see the doctor, but before going she had given instructions to her little daughter Chundra to run out to the rice fields to call her brother. - ■

But on the way little Chundra had found a companion who wanted her to play shops. It was a favourite game, Poor Hajee was forgotten. Hajee waited a little longer and then made up his mind to jump from his thatched floor and scamper through the high green stalks to his home; and this he started to do. He had one leg over the side of the platform when something lie had seen made him scramble up again very quickly. Not very far away from where he was something big.and dark and heavy was moiing among that sea of gree,n leaves and stalks like-- a great fish ploughing its way beneath the surface of deep water. Hajee held" his breath and watched. Could it be some jungle beast who had lost its way and was making for the village? Whatever it was, it was certainly going in that direction, though he could only see scraps of its black coat through' the moving rice. Something with a black coat. What was it that H»jee suddcnlv remembered? What had lie heard about a black panther which had been seen not far away in the evening at this time about a month ago? A creature that had been frightened away by sonic Indians and had run off. But if they were really hungry and wen- seeking 'meat Hajee knew that panthers would not run away. And now. if it really were a panther, what wa* he to do about it? He was cert;iijilv safer perched up there, but ought not the village to be warned? Ho could scream, but even if his voice were loud enough 'to reach the village would not that attract the animal's attention to him? He knew that panthers could climb trees, and what chance would lip have on that little platform? No: the only thing 'was to stay very, yprV still and wait.

A si ream of golden light low in the sky touched (he far brown roofs into gold, mill sshnue across the emerald rice fields, for the night which conies so quickly in that country had not yet arrived, and lfajee could still sec thai half-hidden, moving figure until it reached the' edge of the field where brown, stubliy grass was covering the ground, and then he saw it give a bound into t lip open. Ah! It was a panther — with a lung. shilling tail, which it swung to and fro as it nosed at the ground, not sure in yriiich direction to go. Suddenly it turned away from the village and trotted off across country the other way.

Hajee thought perhaps his chance had come at last. If he could only reach home, now, quickly, in case the panther should change its mind and turn back towards the village. If he could only just make a dash for it and warn his people. Supposing the panther should break in among the villagers and seize a child —Chundra, perhaps! It might kill his mother!

Terrible thought* flew quickly through Hajee's little puzzled head; but his miud was made up. Scrambling down from his seat on the platform, away he went, running as he had never run in his life before, through the darkening rice fields, his heart beating fast with the fear that every sound he heard was the panther's moving body returning. Could he reach the village in time? How long the way seemed, how long!

At last he reached the clearing where the. brown stubby' grass began and the rice fields were left behind.

That was the path the panther had ,taken, away to his right. Was it coming back? No; Hajee did not think so, though he hardly dared to stop even to glance to one side of him. The blue smoke was getting much closer now, and the brown roofs. He could hear faraway laughter from the huts. And then, suddenly, to his right, Hajee saw something which made him catch his breath with fear, something shining and black, moving swiftly with a long, swinging tail.

He saw two gleams of light like green stars — two stars which had evidently seen the little running Hajee. -The next moment it was a'race between them.

Fleeing, stumbling, jumping, Hajee went, for he knew he had a chance. He had had a good start, - and some little way ahead of him his eyes had caught sight of something which gave him hope and might yet save him. In the village street someone had lighted a Are and was standing behind it to fan the flames which were, mounting up against the dark trees from a red glow of burning wood. Tearing down the street like a little hunted animal, Hajee flung himself to the ground behind the fire, holding on in his fright to the legs of the astonished man who stood there.

He was only just in time! The panther had given a spring, but he fell back, having lost sight of Bajee, faced only by a flaming fire, which dazzled and frightened him. And then the man standing behind the flames took in what was happening, and, plunging the torch whica had lighted the fire into the flames, he stepped out and waved, it in the face of the cowering panther, shouting at the same time to the whole village..

In a moment men with sticks and torches and guns were racing towards the terrified animal. A shot rang out across the village, and another; but the panther had vanished behind rocks that lay about on the brown grass, and was soon beyond the reach of its pursuers.

Some of the village children after that had a hew game called Panthers, but Hajeo preferred playing shops with Chundra; aiid you may be quite sure that never again did his mother fail to fetch her little son whenever he had gone to the rice fields to scare the birds away. /

OLD SAM.

A Yorkshire farm labourer, known as Old Sam, was picking potatoes one sunny morning when he was asked by a passer-by if he could tell him the time.

"It's just gone ten past eleven," he replied at once. "But you have not looked at your watch," said the visitor. "I can alius tell time by the sun> so I don't carry one," the old man replied.

The visitor then found a chance of looking at a watch and found that the labourer was quite correct, but, being rather doubtful, he resolved to put him to a further test.

The next day, in the afternoon, he went to the potato field and put the same question to him. He looked up to the sun, and then round the field, and answered that it .was just twenty to four.' Again the watch was Consulted and again Old Sam was exactly right. When further questioned A]l he would say was that ho could "alius tell time by looking up at the-sun."